The United States has carried out three executions in a single week, highlighting the country’s ongoing and controversial use of capital punishment. On Thursday, John Hanson, 61, was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma for a brutal 1999 double murder. His death marked the third execution in just three days, with a fourth scheduled in South Carolina on Friday.
Hanson was convicted of kidnapping and fatally shooting 77-year-old Mary Bowles and a witness, Jerald Thurman, in Tulsa. At the time, Hanson was already serving a life sentence for bank robbery in Louisiana. His transfer to Oklahoma for the death penalty was approved during the Trump administration, known for its firm stance on capital punishment. On his first day in office, former President Donald Trump had advocated for expanding its use for what he described as “the vilest crimes.”
Earlier in the week, two other inmates were executed. Gregory Hunt, 65, was put to death using nitrogen gas in Alabama for the 1988 rape and murder of his girlfriend, Karen Lane. The same day in Florida, 54-year-old Anthony Wainwright was executed by lethal injection for the 1994 murder of 23-year-old nursing student Carmen Gayheart.
A fourth execution is slated for Friday in South Carolina, where Stephen Stanko, 57, is set to die by lethal injection. Stanko was convicted for the 2005 murders of his girlfriend, Laura Ling, and 74-year-old Henry Turner.
So far in 2025, the U.S. has carried out 22 executions—17 by lethal injection, two by firing squad, and three by nitrogen hypoxia, a method that involves replacing oxygen with nitrogen to induce death by suffocation. This method, introduced in some states as an alternative amid drug shortages, has drawn fierce criticism. UN experts have labeled it cruel and inhumane.
Currently, the death penalty remains legal in 27 U.S. states, though California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have moratoriums in place. Twenty-three states have abolished it entirely, reflecting a deeply divided national stance on capital punishment.
As executions continue, so too does the debate over the morality, effectiveness, and humanity of the death penalty in modern America.
